Specific Approaches to Preventive Maintenance

• Prevent pipe blockages in advance through regular high-pressure cleaning
• Reduce the risk of sudden water outages due to malfunctions by checking the operating status and current values of pumps, sensors, and related equipment
• Limit progression to large-scale construction work through partial repairs based on deterioration diagnosis

Planned maintenance not only helps control sudden repair expenditures but may also reduce the lifecycle cost of the entire building. The shift in thinking from “fix it after it breaks” to “prepare it before it breaks” is the key to long-term asset management.

① Qualifications and Licenses

The presence or absence of qualifications and licenses is one indicator for judging a contractor’s scope of work and reliability. In particular, maintenance of plumbing systems involves multiple services such as cleaning, inspection, water quality testing, and construction work, so it is important to confirm whether the contractor itself holds the registrations and licenses required for each service.

For reference, the main registrations and licenses held by AMCON INC. are as follows.

② Proposal Capabilities

There is a significant difference in long-term management quality between contractors that simply “complete the work” and contractors that “think and make proposals.”

• Does the contractor submit reports with photos after inspections?
• Can the contractor present repair plans based on the conditions found during inspections and cleaning?
• Are the reports not filled only with technical terms, and can they be used to explain matters to management associations and owners?
• Can the contractor attend board meetings, general meetings, and similar occasions to explain technical matters in an easy-to-understand way?

Whether the contractor can show what should be done when an abnormality is found becomes a key factor in judging its proposal capabilities.

③ Emergency Response System

The extent to which a contractor can respond to problems late at night or on holidays is an often-overlooked perspective. The following points should be checked in advance.

• Is there a 24-hour, 365-day emergency contact desk?
• Is the initial response flow in an emergency clearly defined?
• Can the contractor handle everything consistently, from the initial dispatch to permanent solutions?

At AMCON, 24-hour emergency maintenance support is a service for customers who have subscribed to the “24-Hour Emergency Maintenance Support + Periodic Inspections of the Plumbing System” plan. When an emergency occurs, reports are received directly from the call center and on-site security personnel, and AMCON staff assess the situation before providing appropriate initial response instructions. We have also established a system capable of consistently handling the process through to permanent solutions.

Before signing a contract, confirming specifically “how far the contractor can respond” and “what the response flow looks like” will lead to peace of mind when an emergency occurs.

Points to Confirm Before Signing a Contract

It is important to check not only the total amount of the estimate but also the scope of work and response details in advance.

Because the details included in “lump-sum” items can differ greatly depending on the contractor, we recommend checking them specifically before signing a contract.

Checkpoints Before Contracting or Placing an Order

Clarity of the Scope of Work

• For drainpipe cleaning, does the scope include not only common areas, such as vertical pipes and horizontal main pipes, but also branch pipes in each unit?
• If entry into private units is required, does the scope include protective covering, cleaning, and explanations to residents?

Work Records and Reporting System

• Is there a system for recording and reporting the condition before and after work using photos?

Transparency of Miscellaneous Expenses

• Are travel expenses, waste disposal costs, protective covering costs, and similar expenses clearly stated?
• Are there any hidden items that are likely to be billed separately?